Spring Term 2013 Review
Some photographs taken from the spring term can be viewed here.
Year 3 musical brings ancient Greece to life
Children at King Edward’s Junior School have been busy rehearsing a new musical production of ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’ which they will be performing on Friday 21st June.
This term, Year 3 have been studying ancient Greece in History. To help the children gain first-hand experience of Greek drama 3J’s form teacher, Rachel Barrett, decided to compose a new musical.
The plot challenges the traditional view of Theseus as a hero. The children are confronted with the moral dilemma of whether it can ever be considered right to tell lies, even if it is ultimately for the greater good.
Every pupil has been actively involved in the production through acting, singing, dancing and creating the scenery. The new musical includes original, catchy songs, choreographed dance routines, moments of comedy and pathos, innovative staging, audience participation and huge amounts of enthusiasm from the cast.
3J Form teacher, Mrs Rachel Barrett, commented: “Working towards this performance has been extremely beneficial for all the pupils. Not only has it helped them understand more about Ancient Greece it has also developed their acting and dancing skills and given them experience of staging a musical production. By being involved at every stage the children have also seen how the efforts of everyone are vital to the success of the group as a whole, so it’s been great for team work too.”
Year 6 learn how to be good citizens
Year 6 at King Edward’s Junior School have been looking at ways they can give something back to the community as part of their Active Citizens Award.
The Active Citizens Award encourages the children to think about how they can help other people within their community. All 60 children in Year 6 are involved in initiating their own project for Active Citizen. Some of the activities pupils have been involved in include; volunteering to walk an elderly neighbour’s dog, helping in a nursery, visiting senior citizens, collecting T-shirts for a charity who send them to Brazil and helping at the Bath Foodbank. Every child in Year 6 can choose an activity of their choice.
The aim of the Active Citizen Award is to inspire children to help within their community and to carry out a selfless act on behalf of others and to give their time willingly.
The three pupils, James Purser, Xavier Raynes and Alexander Christopherson, who helped at the Bath Foodbank were inspired by their visit to organise a food collection at school. The whole of the Junior School contributed food items to give to the Foodbank who help families in crisis in Bath.
The Active Citizens is part of the Year 6 Award Scheme. The Award Scheme is a chance for the children to extend their learning by completing a series of tasks, both individually and in groups, both inside and outside the classroom which link all aspects of the curriculum. Activities include; A Victorian Murder Mystery Day where pupils must act as detectives and sift through the evidence to solve the case, Dragon’s Den, where pupils pitch a new business to the business ‘Dragons’ and then develop the idea into a fundraising activity at the Summer Fair, a Design and Technology Challenge Day, an Adaptation Project and many more.
Visit by Interfaith Minister
On Monday 15th April, Charles Kemp, a local interfaith minister, visited the Junior School.
Pupils celebrate World Book Day with a Guinness World Record Attempt
Pupils from King Edward’s Junior School and Combe Down Primary School attempted to break the record for the ‘largest reading lesson in a single venue’ to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 7th March.
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288 children attended the lesson, which was taught by King Edward’s Elizabeth MacFarlan and author of the Penny Dreadful book series, Joanna Nadin.
The reading lesson, created by Elizabeth in conjunction with Joanna, was based around an extract from Penny Dreadful is a Record Breaker. The lesson aimed to introduce pupil’s to new vocabulary as well as developing inferential skills, but emphasis was definitely to make reading fun.
The Right Worshipful Mayor of Bath, Councillor Andrew Furze, and the Bath Chronicle’s Education Reporter, Siobhan Prideaux, acted as independent witnesses to the event.
Publishers Usborne books will now submit all the relevant evidence to Guinness World Records to verify that Usborne, the pupils of King Edward’s Junior School and Combe Primary School, and Joanna Nadin have achieved a new world record.
